


Family Reunited

by XinyiC



Category: We're Alive: Frontier, We’re Alive - A “Zombie” Story of Survival (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I will make a happy ending dammit, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 10:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14809160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XinyiC/pseuds/XinyiC
Summary: Post-Season-1 finale fix-it. Because I couldn't bear the thought of Bandaid and Rai out there alone and hurt, and I don't believe that Wraith and Jenny would have forgotten about their friends or their promise to go back for them.





	Family Reunited

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks and love to Xander, Melanie, Anjali, Alcuin, Vince, Josh, BDave, and Ivan for giving us this wonderful show and letting us meet your delightful characters. You made us laugh, cry, scream and swear, and Ivan, I hope those tears were delicious. 
> 
> Here's to a Season 2!

_“Jennysburg.”_

As the cheers rise around them, Wraith finally lets out a long breath, sheathing his blade again and straightening up to catch Jenny’s eye and give her a small smile. _It’s over._

Then he hears a man nearby, his voice hushed, talking to someone else. 

“What happens when the squad gets back?” 

Panic sends an icy spike through his stomach, and he whips around, picking out the man unerringly-- when Wraith’s eyes fix on him, the man shrinks back in fear, but Wraith is on him in two long strides, grabbing the front of his shirt and dragging him in close, voice grating and harsh. “What squad?” 

“K-kamon, he sent out a squad to find your friends--” the man stutters, and Wraith snarls, shoving the man back and letting go as he turns on his heel to find Jenny standing just behind him, just as pale, having overheard the conversation.

She whips around and heads straight for Chato, jaw set and eyes determined. “Chato-- Kamon, he sent out a kill squad-- our friends, they’re injured--” 

“Of course.” Chato replies at once, and gestures to one of the men. “You-- get weapons and medicine, choose three others. Help our friends retrieve their comrades and bring them back here.” 

Wraith motions sharply at Jenny-- he’s not sure where Kent is-- and leaves at a near-run, only slowing when Jenny pulls at the sleeve of his hoodie. “Wraith! Wraith, slow down-- I’m coming with you--” 

“Sorry,” he rasps out, and reduces his stride to something more manageable for the shorter woman. “Just… worried.” 

“I know. I know.” Jenny squeezes his hand, and Wraith belatedly realizes that the men are jogging to catch up, carrying packs. “They’re okay. They’re tough. We’re going back for them like we promised, and we’re bringing help.” 

He doesn’t know how long they’re traveling for, but his heart kicks when he sees the abandoned barn again. It looks quiet but that’s no indication of his friends’ safety-- as he moves closer, slinking along through the tall grass, he can’t help the foreboding that makes his stomach churn. 

The breeze shifts, and Wraith’s nose wrinkles even as his heart skips a beat-- it’s the familiar copper-iron tang of blood. Despite his worry, the habits of a lifetime hold true, and Wraith ghosts up to the barn with Jenny close behind, the smaller woman careful to only step in his tracks. It’s completely quiet out here-- dead quiet-- and there are at least three sets of unfamiliar tracks around the barn. All the doors and windows save one have been boarded up clumsily or blocked. 

He catches Jenny’s eye, indicating the tracks, and indicates for silence as he slowly eases the only usable door open with the tip of his sword. There’s no movement inside, so Wraith pushes the door wider-- the light glints off dark liquid on the ground, and he wrinkles his nose as the smell of blood gets stronger. 

_That’s a lot of blood. Please don’t let it be Rai’s or Bandaid’s…_

Wraith extends one foot, slowly transferring his weight as he slowly nudges the door open a bit further-- then the source of blood is revealed to be a limp body, impaled on what looks like a sharpened wooden stake attached to a wooden board. He gives it a poke with his sword, tipping the body’s head back-- it’s neither Bandaid or Rai, so Wraith looks back at Jenny, motioning her inside. “One dead hostile,” he says softly as she slips past him. 

They skirt the corpse and keep moving, though Wraith can’t help but feel heartened by the sight of the dead body. At least Bandaid was able to set up some kind of defense.

The second body turns up about halfway down the aisle, with a rock-weighted metal spike embedded in the back of its neck. Jenny gives it a contemptuous prod of the toe as she passes, and Wraith just gives it a cursory stab to ensure that the man is dead.

As they reach the stairs, the smell of blood gets stronger, and they find a dead man crumpled in an awkward pile of limbs at the bottom of the steps-- Jenny flips the body over with her foot, and that’s when they realize the man basically has no face left. Wraith bends closer to examine the body, and wrinkles his nose at the acrid scent of smoke and gunpowder, confirming what he suspected. “Bullet to the face,” he says quietly, before straightening up and motioning towards the stairs. “Let me lead.” 

Jenny nods, hefting her machete-- it looks absurdly large on such a small woman, but Wraith’s seen her do serious damage with the weapon-- and flattens herself against the wall to let Wraith slide past. He concentrates on where he’s putting his feet, not wanting to betray their location to any hostiles that might still be in the barn. 

When they reach the dimly lit second level of the barn, the clear signs of a scuffle-- boxes and benches thrown everywhere and the scent of more blood-- greet them, and Wraith takes a deep breath, steeling himself as he carefully advances, only to catch his foot on something in the gloom and nearly trip, barely biting back a startled curse as he catches himself. 

Drying blood glints in the darkness as he bends closer to inspect what he tripped on-- it’s another dead man, and the head lolls forward as he inspects the body, the neck muscles and spine almost cut clean through. There’s blood everywhere, and he follows the trail to a closed door, carefully pushing it open-- 

\-- and almost immediately has to jump back as something slashes out towards his face, something sharp and gleaming ominously in the light. He flings himself backward, bringing his sword up in time to catch and deflect the next attack, and glass shards splinter everywhere as his attacker lets out a hoarse, desperate-sounding yell, bringing his arm around in an attempt at a backhand blow. Wraith reacts instinctively, bringing his blade up to block, but restrains his counterattack when he realizes just who's attacking him. 

“Bandaid! Stop, it's me!” 

It takes a long moment, but Bandaid finally blinks, recognition coming back to his eyes. “Wraith?” His voice is hoarse, and he exhales slowly as he lowers his weapon-- Wraith belatedly realizes that it's a broken bottle when it drops to the floor and rolls out of sight. “Is it really you?”

He's entirely too pale in the gloom, swaying slightly, wounded arm clamped tightly across his stomach-- in short, he looks terrible. Wraith moves forward to grip Bandaid’s good shoulder, and feels the other man lean heavily on him, trembling with exertion. He shifts his stance, sheathing the sword, and takes Bandaid’s weight. “It's me. I brought Jenny, we promised we'd come back, and we did. Sorry we're late.” 

Jenny clears her throat softly, and Wraith can see the tears glittering in her eyes as she sheathes the machete and tries to keep her voice level. “Hey, Bandaid. You're looking good.” 

“You're still a terrible liar, Jenny,” he retorts, but there's no rancor in his strained voice as he gives her a small shaky smile. “You brought friends?”

“Yeah. They're on our side. We helped someone to take out the cannibals’ leader, and he’s taken over.” Jenny explains as the squad leader comes up to nod cautiously at them. “Is Rai--?” 

“She's inside.” Bandaid steps away from the doorway he's blocking, tilting his head back over his shoulder in what should have been a little jerk of the head, but his head stays tilted to one side as if he doesn’t have the energy to get it back to its normal position. “Asleep. I managed to stop the bleeding, but she's still hurt badly. Treat her first, I'm fine.” 

The men move past him to tend to Rai-- Wraith catches a glimpse of dark hair and stained bandages and hears a startled curse, but Jenny slips past to go reassure her. “Rai! Rai, it's me, Jenny, it's okay, we came back like we promised-- Wraith’s fine, he's got Bandaid, it's all right, I promise I'll explain later--” 

Evidently, Rai relaxes, as Wraith hears Jenny’s voice quiet down into calming murmurs, and he looks back at Bandaid, who’s leaning heavily against Wraith, his eyes closed, right hand supporting his wounded left arm, pain and exhaustion leaving him quiet. “You’re not fine,” he says quietly as he leads Bandaid carefully down the stairs, kicking aside the dead body absentmindedly as they exit the building. “Let’s get out of here. You both need to rest and heal.” 

“Rai first,” Bandaid mumbles, turning just as the men bring Rai out, the sharpshooter carefully held between them in a canvas stretcher-- her bandages have been changed and she looks like she’s not in pain, and that helps to relax the clenched fist of dread that was around Wraith’s heart. 

“See, she’s gonna be okay, now let’s get going,” Jenny says as she comes up on Bandaid’s other side, the stress and tension of the past few days draining away before a mischievous grin comes over her face. “Back to Jennysburg.” 

Wraith groans, and Bandaid blinks at them in confusion. “I’ll tell you later,” Wraith informs him, and slings an arm around the medic’s waist to keep him standing. “Come on.” 

“I can walk, I’m fine,” Bandaid protests, but his words are slurring a little and the words come out perilously close to a whine. 

“Of course you are,” Wraith answers absently, letting himself relax as he looks around at his reunited team-- Rai, Jenny, Bandaid. _His family._


End file.
